Chapter Three;

The apartment building, it turned out, belonged to J. The top floor, although still appearing to have apartments 400 to 408 from the hallway, had actually been combined into one big apartment that was accessible through the door to room 402. The other doors were all dummies, and didn’t even open. This was the place J had equipped for us to use as our headquarters and by the end of the weekend, everyone had moved in. 

The first thing that we needed to do, before even planning to steal the Berendzen, was to get the funds to cover our expenses. Those of us who could afford to cover it – Minseok, Jongdae’s crew, me, and Kris – were all unwilling to use any of our personal finances. That was the problem with forming a crew from strangers. Although J trusted us, it was hard for us to trust each other. 

“There is…something, if we move quickly,” Baekhyun said as we were brainstorming ideas in the living room. “There is to be a gala held for a gallery opening in Busan in four days. I heard that heiress who cause that international scandal by yelling at a flight attendants about how her nuts were served is going to be there. You know, the one with the sapphire and silver necklace, priced at over 5 million USD. I think we could get a decent cut of the profits. That would be more than enough for us to pull off the Berendzen heist.”

“The Stargazer,” Jongdae added. I vaguely recalled reading about that necklace before online. Jewels weren't my usual thing, but I have been known to make exceptions.“That necklace came from South America.”

“I heard about that,” Minseok agreed, nodding. “Let me talk to some of my contacts. I can find a buyer.”

So then it was decided. Sehun was to hack into their data bases to add Minseok, Kris, Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, and me to the guest list. Yixing was to forge the invitations, create imitations for us to flash on the way in. Kyungsoo’s acting abilities were going to come in handy. He was to create a diversion to draw everyone’s attention, during which Minseok and I would slip the necklace off the heiress’ neck without her even noticing.  

“The hardest part is going to be getting it out,” I muttered, biting my lips. 

“I estimate that we’ll have anywhere between one to five minutes before she realizes that the necklace is gone.” Minseok’s eyes were focused in thought.

“The security there is going to put the place on lockdown and they’re going to search every single one of us. Bring up the blueprint of the location?”

A moment later, Sehun had it up on the TV. 

“There is no way for us to get it out in time. If any of us left within half an hour of the necklace being discovered missing, we’re going to be pegged as suspects,” I realized. 

“It would also be too suspicious to drop off. There are CCTVs covering every entrance and every window.” Minseok’s eyes scanned the blueprint again, sweeping left to right. 

Baekhyun let out a low whistle. “Watching you two work is like an art form of its own,” he teased. “Are you reading each other’s minds? Mina and Minseok, what a duo it could have been.”

Minseok and I both turned to glare at him. “Shut up,” we both said at the same time. 

Baekhyun just sniggered, miming zipping his lips shut. I glowered at Minseok until he turned away too. 

“Maybe, we don’t need to transport necklace out.” It was Lu Han who spoke up, voice soft. I leaned forward to hear him better. “Maybe, we can get someone else to do it for us. You know what they say, right? In the world of magic, we have a saying that goes somewhere along the lines of ‘the closer you look, the less you’ll see’.”

“The closer you look, the less you’ll see,” I repeated after Lu Han. “The closer you look, the less…the closer….” 

Suddenly it came to me. By the look in Minseok’s eyes, I could tell he had thought of the answer too. It was crazy, it was risky, and to be honest, Minseok and I were probably the only ones skilled enough to pull it off. 

It was weird to have this moment with Minseok, a moment of understanding and connection. For a second, I thought I saw his eyes soften.  

“I just booked the tickets,” Sehun interrupted with a clacking from his laptop. “Busan bound tomorrow at 10AM.” 

After all the details had been planning out, Lu Han immediately broke open another